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Canberra Airport installs Uridan water-free urinals30th Nov 03

No water or money flushed away with new toilet technology

Waterless urinals from Denmark are being installed in Canberra with an average saving of about 80,000 litres a year for each bowl.

A nine-month trial of the Uridan water-free urinal had been so successful at Canberra Airport that it planned to have them in all new buildings. The airports executive director, Tom Snow, said there had been some misgivings before the trial had begun, so the waterless urinal had been installed in the toilets of the site shed.

“There was no smell,” he said. Everyone had been so impressed with the new product that it would be put into all new airport buildings. Consideration was also being given to replacing conventional flushed urinals with the waterless type throughout Brindabella Park. This product could save us 1.5 million litres of water each year at the airport.

Mr Snow said the urinal looked similar to conventional bowl-type urinals but there was no water inlet and no flush button. A special coating ensured full drainage through a canister of refined canola oil which sealed over the urine, ensuring no smell.

“That was our fear,” Mr Snow said of the smell. Because there was no water there had been some cultural hurdles to overcome but the trial overcame any misgivings.

The product is distributed in Australia by Watersave Australia. Its managing director Paul Marsh said about 500 waterless urinals had been installed around Australia. In Canberra, the CSIRO had some and this week five were installed at Parliament House.

Mr Marsh said the cost was about half that of a flush urinal, and the cost of replacing the conventional urinal could be recovered in about five years. The cost of maintenance was reduced because there were no moving parts or valves. Some councils were replacing were replacing flush urinals to save water and money. Using a false wall it was possible to install the new urinals without removing tough urinals.

Reproduced with kind permission of Canberra Times

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